Who has motivated you to do comics and graphic novels in your life?

[BurningWood]

Continuing the discussion from Has anyone tried to dissuade you from doing comics?:

I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. It's true we live in a world, but I like to point people to Neil Gaiman's talks. They're good reminders of why to keep going depite the odds and the naysayers. Like this one:

Just remember that it will take hard work, thick skin and perseverance.
It's not an easy life, but it can be very rewarding!

[ninakester]

Almost too many people to name. Mostly my mom who believes everyone should follow their passion, one of my professors, Nick Bertozzi, who told me when I got into administrative work in comics never to forget I was a creator, and my fiance who reminds me every day I need to get on that next great american comic I've been talking about. Oh, and the Acedemy--oh--wrong place? Scratch the last one.

Thanks @BurningWood for starting a positive space for us to talk about how it gets better, haha.

[michaelson]

Probably, Brian K Vaughan.

Then there's Feyuca. @feyuca

Sean Gordon Murphy and Jerome Opeña too.

I just want to draw whenever I see these creators' work. I remember being floored by Sean Gordon Murphy's work on Joe the Barbarian, and same goes with Jerome Opena' on Rick Remender's run of The Punisher. And I'm always envious of Feyuca's sketches!

[Andrej]

My family, my friends, and whenever there's something cool going on with them so I can get ideas from them through comics (or animation!). Stories about what's cool at the time, or some way I can add my loved ones into my story -- sometimes willingly, others without noticing it -- because of the influence they had on me and my work I've also had a select few teachers who really helped me go places and push my abilities forward.

Also, this might sound weird but... uh, I'm not a terribly avid comic reader. Oops. I've read a few graphic novels here and there (Akira, Watchmen, Sandman, etc), but I get my narrative and style inspirations mostly from movies. The Coen Bros. play wonders with the morality codes they endow their characters; Chris Nolan's films are getting a bit too big for my full liking, but nonetheless they're very muscularly built men-on-a-mission stories; and then there's Scorsese, who keeps himself on his toes by changing genres with every film, to fascinatingly intimate results. I could go on naming directors (Kubrick, Spielberg, Fincher, Tarantino, Cameron... etc) but you get the idea! Big movie fan here.

[Chris_DFS]

I got started at a young age by a friend who drew his own little comics. Later it was seeing small press comics like Lethargic Comics and Dishman that made me realise you could do your own stuff and make it available for people to read. This grew into being a part of the black and white indy boom in the 90's inspired by the likes of Cerebus, Bone, Elfquest etc. Webcomics is just the next wave of that DIY movement.

The internal motivation is the desire to tell stories and share them.

[ninakester]

@Andrej, Movies are still a visual medium. I drew a lot of animation as comics like Dragon Ball Z (I didn't know there were comics of BDZ back when I was 14.) I look at movies now for coloring palette tips.

[Andrej]

Color palettes, yes! One of my ideas for a comic series was shelved away and came back when I saw Drive -- now I can't help imagining my story looking so neon-lit vibrant, and cool-yet-warm like that movie!

[kambreapratt]

My husband mostly. He was already doing comics when I met him. I watched him work on projects for others and then I thought it might be fun to do one together. I always wanted to do something with writing. This worked out well.

My family is also very supportive of the arts and they are supportive of us doing this. So that helps motivate me too.

[KevinTheJackal]

Me. Telling stories is what I love to do,and the graphic novel is the best way to convey what is in my head to the world. I chose to do it, and then created 5 of them. Nobody helped, nobody funded it, nobody thought it was a good idea, it was all me and my desire - and hard work!

Kevin Jackal Johnston
www.JackalComics.com

[admin2]

Honestly, no one. I've always drawn throughout my life. Even as a kid, so maybe my mother. I created comic strips a long time ago but they were always cruel middle school stuff. This was before the internets so now its kinda like something that I just enjoy. My wife doesn't seem to mind.

[artyhme]

Love and happiness are the keys to keep me moving on. I am not good in writing, so the only way to tell my story is to paint with my emotion and feelings. I create simple characters + light & mood + colour palette to delivery a message.

I paint with my soul and I hope you feel it too. cheers!

sincerely,
Ying Hui
story of artyhme

[jjfresh]

My own desire to draw. I don't really understand this thing of being influenced or motivated by family and love and so on~.

[digital_nxs]

I'm motivated by the fact that I can share a story that I created with the world! The everyday person is my motivation, that they too can enjoy the thoughts in my head/

[zwebb90]

ohhh nobody here likes that stuff but me, heh i guess i just did it on a whim.

[mattchee]

I started making comics about the second that I realized it was something that people did. I had read a small article (career profile, really) about Todd McFarlane, of all people, and was like "woah! That's a JOB?!?!" This was back when he was doing Spider-Man (to give some perspective).

Anyhow, the reason I've stuck with it, and keep coming back to it, I think, is because I can do it all myself. I don't need any outside help, or have to depend on anyone else to get it done. I can just sit down and do it. I've dabbled in other mediums over the years. I've been in bands, I made a (really awful) movie once. And in all those cases, your work is at the mercy of other people who might have adverse opinions, or a lack of motivation.

Obviously a lot of folks collaborate on comics, but you don't have to. I wouldn't mind collaborating on comics, but I like the fact that if I want to create something that is my total vision, that I can do that.